StrmChasinFool

Talk about, Different, or weird. Have you guys noticed a shift in our weather in the past decade? Im not talking global warming, something bigger, something else in play.

Lets list a few things to start out with:

June 22, 2003 Record breaking hail falls in aurora nebraska. Volleyballs people! I mean, the things left CRATERS in the ground some measuring 12" across, about 4 inches longer than the actual recovered record breaking hailstone. Not to include the fact that the counties of Hamilton (record setter) and Kearny both had very large hail reported in them multiple times that year and the year to follow. (normally baseball or larger)

Numerous mild winters, and also seemingly mild summers in '04 '05 in the central plains.

Multiple previous and current winter (December, January, February) Tornado outbreaks, leaving devastation behind, and lots to wonder where all the seasonal snow went. (including this last outbreakof 75 reported tornadoes)Ive seen a high risk zone unfold in NE kansas, multiple times, but some factor (that CINH was off or the cap just didnt weaken) and only a couple severe thunderstorms broke out.

The 800+Mile track supercell storm that spawned with others in just one of the three lines that formed that day, March 12, 2006. Those storms were also moving at an average speed between 50-60 mph. talk about a chase disaster, lets just hope we can plant ourselves infront of this sucker and take some pics before it flies off! whats more amazing is that these storms formed on the dry line, (which wasnt moving at all) and then took off! they werent dependent upon that source of energy to keep it going, there was so much gas in the air, the dryline was just the lighter, and the flames just took off! and in 3 seperate times of the day, also which ealier in the morning, a supercell storm formed in just 40 degree weather and lowered a nice wall cloud/inflow zone that pushed several large air conditioning units off the top of one of KUs dormatories in Lawrence, KS

I know poeple notice things that happen around their region more than others because it affects them directly, but have you noticed weird "Hot spots" for concentrated severe weather?

Lets take in the fact that the I-44 corridor in southern Missouri has had thunderstorm like rain going on in 30 degree weather, that froze to everything it touched destroying all that it clung too, trees, powerlines, etc. and that the same exact corridor had the training supercells spawn over it, again, and again, and again, and again again! and that noaa/spc had no idea that their forecasts were going to, way underplay what really unfolded both times.

those are just a FEW might i stress FEW things that were on my mind at the moment, i could pull out my database and just read tons of interesting facts and unknowns about extremes, and extremes forcasted that didnt happen.

Wow what an exciting week it has been! Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, All 3 days we were in a tornado watch, all 3 days we had Tornado Warnings... I was out chasing on tuesday, and caught some glimpses of a forming wallcloud as it headed my way, but this was later in the evening after I had already been chasing for over an hour or two with no luck until now... I captured it all on video and after darkness set in I went to a local quiktrip gas station where I experienced 70 mph winds, all of which I got on video...
The second day, Wednesday, I did not go chase because the storms were too close together and I didnt want to put myself in harms way. But again we had a tornado warning issued for Tulsa county In Oklahoma..
Day 3-Thursday, I knew today was my lucky day, 3rd times the charm.. and Id like to say, my timing on everything, couldnt have been any better... I got off work a lil early, and the first storm went up right over south Tulsa.. and it was just raining hard.. and didnt look to organized.. but I hurried and grabbed my paycheck anyways.. went home.. took care of my animals, and checked my SPC forecasts which were really High, and I check our tornado watch and what they had to say, and something caught my eye... That "The first storms to go up, will be discrete supercells which have a high probability of producing a tornado or two and very large hail." I didnt waste any time, I grabbed my camera and left, I filled up with gas.. because what good is chasing if you run outta fuel..
With a full tank I headed north to a main east west road which was 71st St. as I was getting there I had my eye on the storm the whole time, which the inflow was increasingly speeding up and by the time I got to 71st and headed east, the storm was but 5 miles from me, and I rapidly cut that distance to 2 miles, The RFD was already cutting down the backside and wrapping into the inflow area, and so in not even 5 minutes, this storm went from regular thunderstorm, to a monster Rotating Mesocyclone, heading east the wall cloud formed rapidly, and not a few seconds later, the funnel was dropping, I was filming in amazement and as the funnel Got lower the only thing I could think of was... this thing has formed so fast I doubt they have it on radar yet, or even a warning out, so I threw my camera in my seat, and called 911 to report the tornado, which by this time, was on the ground. I told them where I was, 71st and County line road, you can see my report here http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/yesterday.html or maybe here.. depends if they update it.. http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/today.html but my report was for Wagoner county Oklahoma, it was the second tornado report of the day, and obviously there was some confusion on her part because she wrote the report as tornado on the ground AT 71st and County line road.. i told her it was 2 miles northeast of me.. but I was a little excited and nervous..
To speed things up a bit, I drove further down the road and cut north where I stopped in amazement to see a full fledged Mesocyclone rotating, just a quarter of a mile north of me, I got it all on video baby! once it headed east i did a lot of back road tracking and I headed south again into this neighborhood, and I looked to my left. I ALMOST PASSED THE TORNADO!!! It was 1/4 mile or less on my left, I backed up fast, and pulled onto that east west road stopped and filmed the tornado as it tore up some building materials because I got the debri floating in the air and the the tornado went back up and I went down and looked at the damage, a bunch of trees were down and some damage was done to a house, but nothing significant.. so I headed back west and then south where I didnt realize the tornado had done more damage, It had torn off a mobile home roof and left it hanging off one side of the house. and these kids came from another house to see what I was doing, and I told them to go make sure there was no one in the house and I headed to catch up with the storm, which was impossible, I had gone back into an area where the only way out was back west 5 miles... sigh so well. the storm became rainwrapped from what I heard on the radio and there was only a touchdown or two more.. and I got most of the storm and its awesomeness already..
I went to Tulsa's NWS building and told them I had great video and so they recorded it, and we made copies of a map where I showed them where the damage was and we swapped info and numbers and that was my day! It was awesome..

I will have some really nice pics of the hail storm we had two wednesdays ago up tomorrow (saturday) by around noonish.. there are some really nice ones of the towering cumulous, mammatus, and anvil.. I will also have descriptive details of each photo for you.. and there will be about 10-15 photos.. so also.. everyone else feel free to use this thread to load pictures up.. Oh and to the Moderator, if you can get a tool that would allow us to attach pictures straight from our hard drives.. that would make life so much easier.. cause if not, everyone has to have some site for hosting their photos.. me already having one it doesnt bother me.. but for some.. loading up photos could be a problem.. Thanx and hope you guys enjoy my photos when I get them up tomorrow!

Down here in tulsa Oklahoma establishing residence so attending OU this fall will be cheaper.. while working for QuikTrip can burn ya out.. but today, today was exciting.. I got up at my usual 5 am.. checked noaa's spc forecasts..and there was a slight chance of storms circled down near the arklatex area. but I had a clue it was going to move further north over us... so I get back from work at 3 pm.. and check the spc forecasts again.. and I was right the slight area move over towards tulsa and Hail chances went up to 25%.. so by this time.. Im pumped.. I check radar.. nothing.. I check visible satellite imagery and I noticed something interesting that I have seen before.. twice... a wave of clouds.. that lookes like this. \\\\\ but they have bends in them.. this is all from satellite... I forget their name.. but I believe they are associated with strong magnetic waves?? I think thats what noaa called them.. but anyways I knew we were in for a big storm.. so 5:30 rolls around.. and the first storm goes up.. big.. towering cumulous with a nice anvil.. I head home fast.. grab my maps.. and forgot my camera... I headed 15 miles east where I ran into some nice 1.33 to 1.75 inch hail that came in two rounds.. feeling the rush and adrenaline you get when the hail pounds into your car.. I needed more.. I then headed 2 miles east.. and 1 mile south to the hail core.. where I was greeted with again almost golfball sized hail this time.. comming down fast.. and may I note as I came up on the site.. the ground was already covered with quarter to half dollar sized hail.. and the larger round had just started as i pulled up.. all of it was commin in at over 60mph and makin dents in my honda.. although I didnt mind.. and still dont.. the experience was worth it all and I even got to see Hail fog for the first time... after that batch.. my hunger was satisfied and it was gettin dark anyways.. so I headed home.. on the way back I took a different route.. and ended up running into an area hit with larger hail than where I was.. most of it not melted much.. so I bought two 44oz cups.. and salvaged what I could.. and got pictures back home of everything.. so hopefully here in a day or two I can post them up.. and I was wondering.. is there anywhere I can report storm damage.. or just report severe weather.. ive tried a couple times.. but I cant seem to find a link anywhere here on the site.. thanks and Oh.. today was my first successful chase of the year.. and I only had to drive a round trip of 40 miles.. what more could you ask for...